Top 5 left-handed openers from New Zealand

1 John Wright

John Wright

The former India coach might have quit playing cricket more than two decades ago but he remains one of the best and longest-serving opening batsmen in New Zealand's history.

He batted left-handed as well and naturally, he finds himself at the summit. Over the course of a career that lasted 15 years from 1978 to 1993, Wright played 82 Tests and opened the innings in 80 of those. He was a complete batsman since he not only had the necessary defensive discipline to see of tough bowling attacks but also the wherewithal to play a range of strokes once he was set and that is what made him one of New Zealand's most reliable batsman during the 1980s.

In his career as an opening batsman, Wright scored 5260 runs in 80 Test matches with 12 centuries and 23 fifties to his name. He averaged 38.11.